


Could have been, Carrot

by Keenir



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, If Nick is Batman..., It's a Wonderful Life, Not sure if Clarence escaped from a Monty Python film, mostly - Freeform, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 02:16:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6404611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel? Time traveler? All that Officer Judy Hopps is certain of, is that the imp is trouble.  And in the meantime, she's fighting crime in the changed histories she's thrown into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Could have been, Carrot

It never would have happened if she hadn't chased a purse-snatcher into an alley.  Nick was dealing with crowd control (and finding where in that crowd was the snatcher's accomplice), which left Judy to pursue the snatcher on foot.

 _Which is fine by me_ , thought Officer Judy Hopps as she bounded up to a wall, and then leaped at the snatcher who -

...slipped on a puddle that should not have been in the alley during this drought.

Judy landed in front of the snatcher, who had slipped and fallen backwards, and then Judy kicked the snatcher (now rolled up in a ball) to the custody of her fellow ZPD officers waiting at the entrance of the alley.

She was about to go join them, when she heard clapping behind her.  Judy spun around and saw -  "What are you?" she asked the sabertoothed rabbit.

"Hi," he said, somehow looking harmless despite having those piercing blood-red eyes.  He unholstered an abacus, and began to move the beads and berries around on its strings.  "Officer Judy Hopps, lovely to meet you."

"No, _I'm_ Officer Hopps," Judy said.

"I know," he said, moved a particular bead, and the puddle vanished.

"Aaaand...?"

"Lets just say that your work has come to our attention."

"Uh-huh," Judy said.  "And who are you?"

"Your skepticism, though admirable, Officer, is wasting time.  Which may be your intent, hoping your colleagues will arrive on the scene shortly," the strange saber-toothed bunny said as he holstered his abacus.  "Which is not going to happen now."

"You did something to them?"

A chuckle.  "My superiors want me to prove that I'm right, and to do that...well, you were going to be rewarded either way."

"Oh really?" Judy asked.

"Oh yes," with a firm nodding.  "I just fixed history for you.  No more troublesome Night Howlers - they never existed."

"Except they do and they did."

"Oh dear.  I'm going to have to explain, aren't I?"

"You betcha, Clarence," Judy said.  "Start now."

"I was really hoping I'd be a Harvey."

"Nope, if I'm naming you, you're Clarence."

"Very well," said Clarence.  "I've changed history for you - from where we're standing, there have never been any Night Howlers.  And with no Night Howlers, there was no conspiracy for you to uncover."

"Keep talking," Judy said.

"I'll wait right here.  Feel free to go outside and look around."

"Absolutely," Judy said, pulling him with her as she headed for the front of the alley and stepped onto the sidewalk -

Sans Clarence.

And Judy found herself wearing her old uniform - and saw her old vehicle parked on the curb right in front of her.  "Very funny," Judy said.  "Now where's -" and stopped, her ears picking up the sound of someone driving way too fast to be legal.  "Sounds exactly like - nah, can't be," Judy said, leaping in time to land on the hood of the approaching speeding car, holding on for dear life as she looked through the windshield.  _Flash?_

"Officer?" Flash asked.

_I was right, you do know me._   "I need you to pull over, Flash," Judy told him loudly enough to be hearable over the engine noise.

And then, in a speed all too memorable from the DMV, Flash's face changed expression.  Flash's eyes seemed to disappear in all the wrinkles of frowning and peering at her.  "You  knooww -"

"That you're the local speed demon, yes, I do," Judy said.

"-w  me?"

Judy blinked.  "Yes."

"Officer?" Flash asked, appearantly not having been done his question.

"Yes, yes I do.  Nick introduced us.  Its me, Judy."

"You    knooowww -"

"You, yes.  We just went over this."

"-  my   friennnnd Nick?   Is   he  innn-"

"Can you pull over?" Judy barked at Flash after the umpteenth truck honked at them, informing her of another near miss.

"-n trouble?" Flash asked as he pulled over into a parking garage.

_Was he keeping one eye open for escape routes and garages, or did he know where all the parking lots and garages were already?_ Judy wondered as she peeled herself off the car Flash was turning off.  Sliding in through the open window, Judy sat shotgun next to Flash.  "Nick's not in trouble...at least, not as far as I know.  Though, speaking of trouble, didn't we just arrest you?"

Flash's eyes went wide.

_Ah, confession time._

...and proceeded to laugh as hard as he had the first time he'd heard the joke about the three-humped camel.

And laughed as the sound of a police siren caught up with them.  "Come on, Flash.  You're under arrest."

"O-kayyyy," Flash said, and by the time he was climbing down from the driver seat  -  two-legged and one-armed, with his other arm cuffed to Judy's wrist  -  her fellow ZPD officers were parking and coming over.

"Clawhauser?" Judy asked as she waited for Flash to finish clambering down.

"Hi, Judy," Clawhauser said, waving happily.  Then his face fell.  "Are you sure you should be doing this?  I mean, again, and all?"

"Again?"

"We'll cover for her, partner," Officer Tuskbrim said.  "Thanks for the sloth, Hopps."

"He's my collar, I'll take him in," Judy said.

Clawhauser winced.

Tuskbrim shook his head.  "I've never in my years seen anyone so unafraid of getting a goring from the Chief.  There isn't some sort of kinky thing going on, is there, between you two?"

"Uh, no!" Judy said.

"Then why do you keep annoying him by trying to do something that's not your job?  Let us at least _try_ to be your friends - or are we not good enough for you anymore?"

"Lying isn't friendship."

"That's  truuuuue," Flash said.

"Keep out of it," Tuskbrim said.

"Can we say we worked together?" Clawhauser asked.  "That worked last time."

Tuskbrim groaned.  "Fine.  Just as soon as Hopps hands over the speeder."

"Plllllease," Clawhauser asked Judy.

Judy groaned.  "Fine."

Clawhauser came over, and asked Flash, "Can I put you in the squad car?"  _There are regs that say I have to ask first before picking someone up, even when they're a criminal._

"Sure," Flash said while Judy uncuffed the two of them.

While Clawhauser was moving Flash, Tuskbrim came over beside Hopps and asked "You sure you're ready to be back on active duty, Hopps?  Jumping on that car was reckless even for you."

Judy shrugged.  "I'm fine.  Question is, how's Nick?"

"Please don't tell me you're talking about Wilde."

"I am," Judy said.

"I'm sure he's exactly where we left him, after you arrested him three months ago.  And no, I still don't wanna know what your deal is with Mr. Big, or how you convinced him to hand over Wilde and half the criminals in the city."

"I know people."

"Hey guys, can we make a stop on the way back to the office?" Clawhauser asked.

"Sure," Tuskbrim said.  "I for one am in no hurry to dive into all the interdepartmental paperwork we need to fill out now."

* * *

Pausing on one of the bridges between the ZPD and her apartment, Judy leaned against the railing and did some stretching exercises before she just leaned against the railing and looked out at the water.  _So.  Much.  Paper.  And boy was Chief Bogo mad._

"Believe me now?" Clarence asked her, startling her.

Judy prided herself on not being the sort of bunny who, when startled, leaped twenty feet in the air, or even two; that held true even now.  "Yes.  Yes, I believe you now.  What's your point?"

"Well, I brought you here as a demonstration.  Now, I could let you explore a bit more, or let you see what happens when...  Well, you'd have to say what you wish had gone differently."

"What're my options?" Judy asked.  _I get the feeling I can't go home, not yet; not til you're done whatever you're up to_.

Clarence said, "Well, most people want to see what things look like if they were never born.  That'd be a little tricky with you, you being a rabbit, but its doable if that's what you want."

"I know what I want," Judy said.  "But what do I do, do I describe what happened and what should've happened?"

"That and say when it was, sure," Clarence said.  "Most people aren't as quick about this as you."

"I'm a clever bunny," thinking of Nick.  _And those kids aren't going to muzzle you, Nick.  Not if I have anything to say about it, and right now, I do._   She told Clarence about the incident, and how she wanted it to go better.  "Now what?"

"Now we go show you what happened."

"What about the abacus?"

"What about it?" Clarence asked.

"Don't you need it?" Judy asked.

"Not for time, no."

"Then...?"

"Its to make sure we don't lose you," unholstering a pocket abacus and handing it to Judy, who took it with numb fingers.

"What??" Judy asked.

Clarence's eyes got wide, but he wasn't looking at Judy - he was looking at something behind her.

_What could scare a saber-toothed rabbit?_ Judy looked, and saw - "Nick?"

"You know me, Carrot?" Nick asked, his voice huskier than usual.

Doubting his voice was like that because of the mask he was wearing, "Yeah, I -" and, out the corner of one eye, Judy saw that Clarence was gone.  "Why are you wearing that, anyway?"

"This is how I protect my city.  You have your uniform.  I have mine."


End file.
